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Third Momento ADELANTE. Triangular Cooperation, civil society organisations and local authorities.

Third Momento ADELANTE. Triangular Cooperation, civil society organisations and local authorities.

The third Momento ADELANTE, together with the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), was featured as one of the side events at the 'EU-Latin America and the Caribbean Forum: Partners for Change. Youth, Civil Society and Local Authorities', organised within the framework of the 'EU-LAC Day' as a preliminary activity leading up to the EU-CELAC Summit. In keeping with the topics of the Forum, this Momento ADELANTE focused on the strategic potential that Triangular Cooperation can offer to civil society organisations and local authorities; actors with whom AECID has a proven track record of cooperation in all modalities, as well as ADELANTE, specifically in terms of Triangular Cooperation.

During the opening session, Livia Galita (ADELANTE 2 Coordinator), after welcoming remarks and thanking the audience in attendance and those following the live broadcast, highlighted the progress of the Momentos ADELANTE. She emphasised the value of the previous editions that were organised together with GIZ (Triangular Cooperation and the fight against the effects of COVID-19) and with SEGIB (Triangular Cooperation and the European Union). She also highlighted the symbolic importance of this third Momento ADELANTE, as it is part of the 'EU-Latin America and the Caribbean Forum' and is taking place in conjunction with the AECID, in the midst of Spain's current presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Olivier Luyckx (Head of Unit B1 of DG INTPA) highlighted the capacity of Triangular Cooperation to develop partnerships that have a strong multi-level and multi-stakeholder component, which is somewhat unprecedented, and brings together different views on the development challenges and the various responses to address them. As an example, he shared updated data from the ADELANTE Window, which currently involves a large number of civil society and local actors engaged in all kinds of innovative combinations, with a strong impact on the different goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda. In addition, he highlighted the fact that investment in knowledge, as a key characteristic of Triangular Cooperation, does not entail major costs, but can provide significant benefits for the entities involved and for the development processes in which they participate.

Following his remarks, Antón Leis (Director of AECID) shared the different elements of added value that Triangular Cooperation can offer for the Spanish Cooperation Agency. He highlighted its innovative aspect and, above all, its ability to produce a strong multiplier effect, since the development solutions can also be replicated at different levels, thus reinforcing its potential impact on the 2030 Agenda. This factor has led to a more firm commitment by the Spanish Cooperation Agency to this modality, with an approach that goes beyond the institutional relations with partner countries, highlighting the solid commitment to engaging with civil society and local governments.

Following the introductory speeches, Laura Oroz (Director of Cooperation for Latin America and the Caribbean at AECID) gave the keynote address. After providing a conceptual approach to the modality, analysing its evolution over the last few years, she highlighted the leading role that AECID has always taken in this area and especially with Latin America and the Caribbean. With the aim of ensuring this leading role, she shared the main reflections and lines of action that the Agency is working on in order to respond to the current challenges of Triangular Cooperation, and, in particular, to engage the greatest number of actors. She posed the following questions: How to encourage the effective engagement of all involved? How to connect the actors with one another? How to establish and foster solid partnerships? How to ensure accountability? How to assess the real impact of Triangular Cooperation? Based on AECID's long-standing experience, AECID has begun to design the tools aimed at answering these questions, which are embodied in models of co-creation that have already been applied by the Agency itself in flagship programmes such as Intercoonecta.


The meeting continued with two commentators representing the point of view of civil society and the international forum that promotes Triangular Cooperation, and with the presentation of a success story involving three local governments.

First, Juan Fierro (the Chilean Cooperation Agency's Attaché to the European Union), representing the Global Partnership Initiative on Effective Triangular Cooperation (GPI), began by highlighting the important contribution of the GPI to strengthening Triangular Cooperation. He also expressed appreciation for the participation in the Partnership and the strong commitment shown by both ADELANTE and AECID. He then focused his remarks on the added value of the participation of civil society actors in Triangular Cooperation, encouraging donors to take into account the value-added elements and the civil society actors themselves to take decisive steps in this direction.

Second, Cecilia Olea (President of the Board of Directors of the Centro de la Mujer Peruana Flora Tristán - Peruvian Women's Centre), representing a civil society organisation, highlighted the creation of spaces for the exchange of knowledge with all types of actors and from all types of countries as a key asset of Triangular Cooperation, producing particularly valuable insights with a high potential for replication. She also emphasised the horizontal nature of these relationships, in which all participants benefit in the short and long term, as was the case in the Triangular Cooperation Initiative 'Trenzando Cuidados' co-financed by the ADELANTE Window 2022, in which the Peruvian Women's Centre participated.

Third, a video on the Triangular Cooperation Initiative 'Historic Centres for Urban Equity', featuring three local entities, was shared with the audience. Thanks to the video, the success of this triangular approach was on full display. Co-financed by the ADELANTE Window 2023 between the District Mayor's Office of Barranquilla (Colombia), the City Hall of the National District of Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) and the City Hall of Málaga (Spain), the initiative also featured the participation of AECID.

At the end of the event, a Q&A session with the audience took place, which allowed the speakers to express some of the concerns regarding the specific characteristics of non-state actors, which should be taken into account when engaging them in Triangular Cooperation.

During the closing remarks, Antón Leis expressed appreciation for the opportunity to exchange views and experiences, and reaffirmed AECID's commitment to Triangular Cooperation, while reiterating the Agency's commitment to promoting the participation of civil society organisations and local authorities in Triangular Cooperation. In turn, Olivier Luyckx confirmed that Triangular Cooperation will continue to be a priority for the European Commission, thanks to its capacity to create networks and partnerships and its focus on capacity-building, which is necessary in order to fulfil the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.

This third Momento ADELANTE joined the efforts of the 'EU-Latin America and the Caribbean Forum' as a space where non-state actors could exchange views and experiences in an inclusive way, as well as analyse opportunities to forge a sustainable and inclusive future in both regions. The outcome of this dialogue resulted in a set of recommendations for the Summit, and will contribute to closer cooperation between non-state actors and youth organisations in both regions.
 

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